Sainsbury’s has reported strong sales growth and higher profits for the six months to October.
The UK’s third-largest supermarket group said underlying pre-tax profits rose by 8.1 per cent to £332m over the 28 weeks to October 2, exceeding analysts’ expectations.
Total sales including VAT and fuel increased by 7 per cent to £11.9 billion, while like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, grew by 2 per cent.
Sainsbury’s said customer numbers were at an all-time high, with more than 20 million transactions being made at its supermarket stores each week.
It added that sales of non-food items such as homewares and clothing were rising at three times the rate of food .
Chief Executive Justin King said: ” Sainsburys has continued to outperform, as we offer healthy, fresh and tasty food at great value and continue to grow our new space.”
“Customer numbers are now at an all-time high of over 20 million transactions every week, which is up one million on last year, a clear indication of our growing universal customer appeal.”
“We now have over 340 Convenience stores; online sales are growing by over 25 per cent and the Bank has delivered strong profit growth.”
“Colleagues have worked hard to deliver great service, resulting in higher customer satisfaction,” King added.
“Further productivity savings, tight control on operating costs, together with our strong sales performance have all helped to deliver good profit growth.”
He warned that the company expects the economic environment to remain challenging. We remain confident that our universal customer appeal, combined with our strong space growth momentum, means we are in a good position to perform well in this environment.”
